Daily Archives: June 20, 2011

Based on the current Golden Nugget lines posted here, Phil Steele’s prediction that Georgia may be favored in every game after its opener doesn’t look so far-fetched. The trends clearly show that the lines on most of its games have moved pretty dramatically in Georgia’s favor since they opened.

Georgia is now a one-point underdog in its first two games and favored in every other game on the board, including (gasp!) against Florida. The Dawgs are now a whopping nine-point favorite over Auburn.

Putting aside the question of how much of a valid predictive indicator this stat might be (although he notes that all five BCS bowl winners last January ranked among the nation’s top ten percent), I think you can safely draw the following conclusions from his chartage:

At Arkansas, having two first round NFL draft picks at running back is just as good as having Bobby Petrino as a play caller.

Gus Malzahn certainly gave Auburn’s offense a boost, but Cam Newton sent it into orbit.

Dan Mullen knows what he’s doing.

Marcus Lattimore had a big impact.

Epic fail at Vanderbilt.

By the way, I am so not looking forward to seeing his charts on the defensive rates…

Contrary to what Tommy Hicks suggests, it’s not tradition that keeps the SEC from going down the same division-dropping road in football that it has in basketball. It’s the overall postseason format for each sport which is responsible for that.

In basketball, the SEC tourney is just a means to an end, the end being March Madness. It’s the culmination of the seeding-delivery system which the regular season has become. It’s most important function is to support the RPI of its highest rated teams.

Football, however, doesn’t share those goals because of the single-game winner-take-all BCS title game. (The current format for participation in the SECCG also generates the added benefit of virtually assuring that there will be two SEC teams in BCS games every year.)

Put it this way: if D-1 football ever adopts an extended playoff, you’ll see the SEC ditch tradition shortly afterwards for the same reason it’s done so with basketball.

This story’s got it all: wealth, power, charity, allegations of misappropriation of funds, feuding heirs and lawyers running their mouths.

And what’s driving the train? This:

At the heart of the standoff, Martin said, is a fight over a number of University of Georgia season football tickets. Martin said Frank Lumpkin III got the tickets “through his daddy” and shares them with his sister each season. He accused Julia Lumpkin of refusing to close the estates until the tickets are transferred to her name.

“She’s holding the estates hostage over these football tickets,” Martin said in an interview. “It’s not an argument of ‘Do you or don’t you get the tickets.’ She wants them in her name, but they don’t have anything to do with the resolution of the estate of Mr. and Mrs. Lumpkin.”

Martin would not specify how many tickets the Lumpkins receive but said they are good seats.

Steele’s optimism watch continues: “Like last year’s Virginia Tech game, national title hopes are on the line for the Broncos and this could be the only game all season that UGA is an underdog.”[Emphasis added.]

If you’ve followed the Milton McGregor trial in Alabama in hopes of seeing a smoking gun turn up about the Newtons, I can’t help you with that – but there’s plenty of other strange stuff popping up in connection with that mess.

Quote Of The Day

“He had some good pointers,” Smart said about Saban’s advice on dealing with the quarterback battle. “But I’ll keep that between he and I. I’m always looking for good advice especially dealing with the quarterback situation.” — Dawgs247, 5/16/18